KR20030066369A - Process for marking services in a list in a television system and terminal associated with the process - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a process for selecting services in a television system using graphical indications displayed on a screen. The invention comprises in particular the steps of: (a) determining a first list (30) of services, the first list being a subset of a second list; (b) displaying at least a part of the first list, ordered according to a predetermined criterion; (c) selecting a service present in the second list, but not in the first list; (d) displaying a visual indicator (39) marking the relative location, according to the predetermined criterion, of the selected service in the first list (30). The invention also relates to the terminal for the implementation of the process. <IMAGE>

Description

A method for marking a service in a list in a television system and a terminal associated with the method {PROCESS FOR MARKING SERVICES IN A LIST IN A TELEVISION SYSTEM AND TERMINAL ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROCESS}

The present invention relates to a process for selecting a service in an audiovisual system, in particular a digital television system.

In digital television systems, the number of services available is growing significantly. Hundreds of services can be made available to the user. Thus navigating through the entire list of services becomes tedious, which is why it gives the user the possibility to create one or more preferred lists, forming the same number subset of the initial list. The user can construct these lists as he wishes, and can navigate to any one of these lists and select a service to watch. However, while navigating a given preferred list, access to a particular service that does not appear in the preferred list requires a certain number of operations to change the list and ultimately select the desired service.

THOMSON's EP 822 713 patent application describes an EPG that screens an event list and a function list. One function is to formulate a preferred list from which a user can move from one list to another. Graphical elements can make a visual association between elements of a service list and a function list.

The US 6,715,362 patent of HARMS discloses a means of making a preferred list. Through the screen window, various events broadcast by the services of the list can be displayed in a row.

TV GUIDE ON SCREEN-WO 95 32583 The patent application describes a system for receiving audiovisual data. A list of all services or services with common characteristics (eg topics) is displayed via a menu.

YUEN's US 6,239,794 patent describes a complex EPG showing a window providing a list of services / events that can be selected, information about the selected services / events, a video picture (PIP) of the selected services / events, and a list of functions (FIG. 16, 17, ... 35). The user can create a list of services / programs according to specific criteria.

WO 01/35664 of patent application CROY discloses an EPG that screens an event list and a function list. With the direction keys, you can advance from one list to another. For example, the EPG displays (topics, times, stations, keywords, etc.) on the left side of an element's screen list, and displays (movies, sports, entertainment, music, etc.) in the mail of this screen list, May select an element of the first service list and then select an element of the second service list.

WO 00/72581 to patent application THOMSON discloses a program guide for receiving service information, a broadcast network, and a wired communication network (INTERNET type). The program guide provides a chronological plan (in the vertical direction) of the program in the form of a service list, each associated with a chronological line of events broadcast with this service.

Despite its ease of use, these documents describe the so-called second preferred service, in which the element is included in the first service list from the first service list by allowing the user to easily represent the interaction between the first service list and the second service list. It does not disclose how the list can be easily navigated.

The subject matter of the present invention relates to a process of selecting a service in a television system,

(a) determining a first service list that is a subset of the second service list;

(b) displaying at least a portion of the first service list arranged according to a predetermined criterion;

(c) selecting a service not present in the first service list but present in the second service list;

(d) displaying a visual indicator for marking a relative position of the selected service in the first service list according to a predetermined criterion.

This makes it easy to preview services that do not exist in the displayed service list in a simple manner.

According to a particular embodiment, the process includes selecting a service from a first service list, moving the cursor from one service of the first service list to another service of the first service list via a navigation key, The service indicated by is to be selected.

According to a particular embodiment, the process includes selecting a service of the first service list immediately adjacent to the visual indicator after steps (c) and (d) when manipulating the navigation key.

As such, even if a service that is not present in this list has been selected previously, it can easily return to the displayed list.

According to a particular embodiment, selecting a service that is not present in the first service list in step (c) is any one of the following steps: entering an identifier of the service directly and returning to the service by the application. Is done through.

According to a particular embodiment, the process further includes displaying elements such as descriptive elements of the selected service and audio and / or video streams representing the selected service.

According to a particular embodiment, the sorting of the services of the first service list depends on at least one of the following criteria: sorting as identification function, alphabetical sorting, user-assigned sorting, and as a function of viewing frequency, but not limited thereto. Do not.

According to a particular embodiment, the visual indicator is one of the following elements: a bar and an arrow inserted into the first service list.

A subject of the present invention is also an appliance for playback of an audiovisual program comprising means for receiving information about a service associated with the program available from the appliance for playback of the audiovisual program,

Means for determining a first and a second service list, wherein the first service list is a subset of the second service list,

Means for displaying at least a portion of the first service list arranged according to a predetermined criterion;

Means for selecting a service not displayed in the first service list but present in the second service list;

Means for displaying a visual indicator marking the relative position of the selected service in the first service list according to a predetermined criterion;

It is an appliance for the playback of audiovisual program, characterized in that it comprises a.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the invention which are set forth in the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram of a digital television decoder according to the present exemplary embodiment.

2 is an exemplary diagram of a screen of a user interface page jointly displaying a list of preferred services with a window representing a selected service.

3 is an exemplary diagram of the screen of the page of FIG. 2 when the user selects a service that does not exist in the displayed list.

4 is a flow chart of a process according to the present exemplary embodiment.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

30: first service list 31, 34: window

32: selected service 33: box

35: scroll bar (vertical bar) 39: visual indicator (horizontal bar)

An exemplary embodiment belongs to the area of a digital television broadcast system, for example the area of DVB ('Digital Video Broadcast') type. The invention is not limited to this area but may be used in other environments where a user is provided with a list of ordered elements.

1 is a block diagram of a digital television decoder. The decoder of FIG. 1 is connected to an antenna 1 which is connected to the tuner 2 of the decoder. The signal provided by the tuner is demodulated by the demodulator 3. The demodulated data is corrected by the correction circuit 4 and transmitted to the demultiplexer 5. The demultiplexer includes a certain number of filters programmed by the microprocessor 22 as a function of the various applications supported by the decoder. This filter corresponds to the identification information present in the header of the packet of the demodulated signal.

Audio or video sections, ie packets, filtered by the demultiplexer are stored in a predefined area of the buffer memory 6 for processing of these applications. If necessary, this information is first decoded by the decoding circuit 7 as a function of the user's right before being stored in this buffer memory 6.

According to this example, there are five applications: audio decoder 16, video decoder 17, teletext decoder 18, access control assembly (decoding circuit 7, verifier microcontroller 8, and microprocessor). A user interface module 24 in the form of an application stored in the memory 12 of the decoder, as well as an interface 9 for the microprocessor card connected to the card 10 in the normal operating mode. The memory 12 also includes a decoder operating system as well as a resident or downloaded program for implementing the application. For clarity of placement, memory 12 is presented in the form of a single block, but at the same time includes random access memory, read-only memory, reprogrammable non-volatile memory (eg, a "flash" type).

The decoder also includes an infrared interface 23 of the remote control 11, which is also connected to the microprocessor 22. The modem connected to the switched telephone network 14 is also controlled by the microprocessor.

The character generator 15 enables the generation of control menus or graphics relating to the parameters of a decoder or a specific application. The video signal generated by the character generator is one of the video signals from the video decoder 17 or the teletext decoder 18 to the first SCART socket connected to the television set 21 or the second SCART socket connected to the video recorder 20. Multiplexed with one. Multiplexing circuitry 19 is managed by microprocessor 22.

The present invention more particularly relates to the operation of user interface applications. This user interface includes an electronic program guide subapplication. This electronic program guide allows a user to access information describing current and future events broadcast over the network. This information is derived from data that is also broadcast to the network. According to the present example, these data are described in the document "EN 300 468 Digital Video Broadcasting; Specification for Service Information (SI) in DVB systems". DVB service data, described in more detail. This document is published by the ETSI ("European Telecommunications Standards Institute"). These data are sent in a multiplexed stream received by the decoder in a packet owning an identifier labeled in a manner known as demultiplexer 5 under the control of microprocessor 22 and buffered for use by a user interface application. It is recovered by the microprocessor 22 in the memory 6. The data about the electronic program guide consists of "tables" that describe the objects of the stream in a hierarchical manner. The description of available services can be obtained in a known manner, in particular from the "SDT" dubbed in a table. The identifier of the packet as well as the hierarchy of the table is described in the DVB document just cited. In order to extract packets containing several tables, the filter of the demultiplexer 5 is properly programmed.

FIG. 2 is a simplified layout view of an exemplary screen, providing a preferred list 30 (in this case a “sports” list) of the user interface generated by the device of FIG. 1. Access to certain preferred lists is accomplished through the hierarchy of screens of the application.

The user may have previously created a preferred list. It may also be automatically and dynamically generated from the full list of services available for criteria describing services such as topics. Some preferred lists may exist in parallel.

The screen also includes a window 31 which provides the selected service 32 in a scaled manner, the name of the selected service being, for example, the color of the box 33 in which the name of this service 32 is displayed. Changes are visually emphasized. The provision of the selected service consists of video and audio streams of the service itself, as the case may be, and the size of the video is appropriately reduced by subsampling. The elements of the list are sorted in the order in which their identification numbers increase, and these numbers have been previously assigned by the broadcasting station. Moreover, window 34 indicates additional information (e.g., the title and summary of the event are currently being broadcast to the selected service). The name and alignment number of the selected service are embedded in the window 31 as a reminder.

The user can navigate through the preferred list using the up and down arrow keys on the remote control and the down arrow key on the remote control. Only part of the list is displayed, which is scrolled by the user in the space allocated to the list as a function of the use of the up and down keys. Vertical bars 35 are arranged on the side of the partial list, which represent the entire preferred list. Graphical cursor 36 indicates which part of the preferred list on the screen is currently displayed. Double arrows 37 and 38 indicate whether scrolling is possible in one direction or in the other.

The user can watch the selected service in the full screen mode by activating the service by the "OK" key of the remote control.

Note that the preferred list is sorted according to the available criteria at the level of the main list, which in this example is sorted according to the sort number of the service. Other rankings, i.e. alphabetical sorting, user-selected sorting, priority sorting according to any criteria (e.g., the start of the next film or the start of a particular type of transmission), chronological sorting (if the contents of the list apply, This is for example the case of lists of events), sorting according to past viewing periods, and so forth.

The user can watch a service that does not form part of the preferred list displayed in window 31 from the screen of FIG. 2. This can be done by directly entering the desired number of services, for example, by means of the digital keypad of the remote control (the user generally knows the frequency of the services he or she is watching at a certain frequency), or by an application (eg user interface). This is possible because an application, such as a program guide, or another application launched by the user by selecting or operating a service of the preferred list) transmits the number of services to the display.

The preferred list is displayed continuously on the screen. It is assumed that the user does not select a service outside the list that is not passing through, and that the user wants to resume navigation on this list later. In accordance with the present exemplary embodiment, visual feedback of a situation in which the displayed service does not correspond to the preferred list is provided on the screen. This visual feedback is given by markers, indicators or other visual pointers, as illustrated by FIG. 3. Advantageously, in an exemplary embodiment a marker in the form of a horizontal bar 39 inserted in the space between two boxes of services of the preferred list, to indicate where the selected service would have had if it had formed part of the preferred list. Is located in such a way. In other words, the marker indicates the alignment of the selected service in the preferred list using the same criteria or criteria that served to sort this preferred list. In the case of Fig. 3, this is the service number.

If desired, the display of the preferred list is changed to show the portion of the list containing the marked places where the selected service should be inserted.

It is also possible to position the marker on the scroll bar 35.

If the user operates either the up key or the down key, a service outside the list is selected, and a service above the external service (service 108) and a service below the external service (service 403) are made. Thus the user returns to the preferred list. Another means of returning to this list is to direct the multiple services of this list.

If the user operates the "OK" key and an external service is selected, the application displays this service in full screen mode.

The general process implemented is described by the flowchart of FIG. 4.

While the exemplary embodiment described above relates to a list of services, the present invention also applies to lists of events or other elements such as audio, video or data files.

As described above, the present invention provides the above-described effects in the process of selecting a service in an audiovisual system, in particular in a digital television system.

Claims (8)

In the method of selecting a service in a television system, (a) determining a first service list 30 that is a subset of the second service list; (b) displaying at least a portion of the first service list arranged according to a predetermined criterion; (c) selecting a service not present in the first service list but present in the second service list; (d) displaying a visual indicator 39 marking a relative position of a service selected from the first service list 30 according to the predetermined criterion; Method for selecting a service, characterized in that it comprises a. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting a service in the first service list 30, wherein a navigation key is used to move from one service of the first service list to another service of the first service list. Moving a to cause the service indicated by the cursor to be selected. 3. The method according to claim 2, comprising the step of selecting a service of the first service list immediately adjacent to the visual indicator 39 after the steps (c) and (d) when manipulating the navigation key. Characterized in that the method of selecting a service. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein in step (c), selecting a service not present in the first service list comprises the following steps: directly inputting an identifier of the service; A method of selecting a service, characterized in that performed by any one of the steps of returning to the service by an application. 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a descriptive element 34 of the selected service 32 and elements such as an audio and / or video stream representing the selected service. 6. Characterized in that the service is selected. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the sorting of the services of the first service list is performed according to at least one of an identification number, alphabetical sorting, user-assigned sorting, and sorting as a function of viewing frequency. A method of selecting a service, characterized in that it is not limited depending. The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the visual indicator is one element of a bar and an arrow inserted in the first service list. An appliance for playback of an audiovisual program comprising means for receiving information about a service associated with an available program from an appliance for playback of an audiovisual program, the apparatus comprising: Means for determining a second service list (30) and a first service list that is a subset of the second service list; Means for displaying at least a portion of the first service list, arranged according to a predetermined criterion, Means for selecting a service that is not displayed in the first service list but is present in the second service list; Means for displaying a visual indicator 39 marking the relative position in the second service list of the service selected in the first service list 30 according to the predetermined criterion. An appliance for the reproduction of an audiovisual program, comprising: a.